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The portrait of Willem Janszoon Blaeu bears the Latin motto, Indefessus Agendo, Guilielmus Blaeu. An English equivalent of this phrase would be "Indefatigable Agenda, William Blue," and it refers to this Dutch mapmaker’s ambition to become Europe’s premiere publisher of cartographic materials. Upon the death of the publisher of Gerhard Mercator’s maps, Willem Blaeu seized his opportunity to release the most ambitious atlas of his day, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, also known simply as Atlas Novus, or the New Atlas. This six-volume set contained the most up-to-date maps of the entire world. After his death in 1638, Blaeu’s dream of cartographic greatness was carried on by his son, who eventually published the 12-volume Atlas Major, which was the most expensive book sold during the entire 17th century.